L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center, SFAF and Pallotta TeamWorks Issue Joint Statement Announcing Resolution to Differences Over California AIDSRide

The Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Center, the San Francisco AIDS Foundation and Pallotta TeamWorks last week issued a joint statement saying they had resolved "all of their outstanding differences" pertaining to the California AIDSRide, the Los Angeles Times reports (DiMassa, Los Angeles Times, 6/9). "The Center and the Foundation wish to acknowledge Pallotta TeamWorks' pioneering efforts in helping to raise millions of dollars in the fight against HIV/AIDS. Critical prevention, care and treatment services for people living with HIV/AIDS have been made possible as a result of revenues generated over the years by the California AIDSRide," the statement said (L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center/SFAF release, 6/7). Last year Pallotta, a for-profit company that has staged the California AIDSRide to benefit HIV/AIDS service groups since 1994, went to court to try to prevent SFAF and the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center from hosting their own bicycle AIDS fundraiser, AIDS/LifeCycle. The two groups had been the beneficiaries of the California AIDSRide in the past but decided to form their own bicycle fundraiser after "unexpected cost overruns" reduced their profits from the 2001 AIDSRide. A Los Angeles judge denied Pallotta's request to halt AIDS/LifeCycle, but the three groups remained involved in attempts to resolve other issues, including whether the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center and SFAF broke a contractual agreement with Pallotta stating that they would not stage a competing bicycle event (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 1/15). Both the California AIDSRide and AIDS/LifeCycle were held this year, and both events are scheduled to take place again next June (Los Angeles Times, 6/9).